Microsoft wanting to remain a major player in the
virtualization market, provides a free version of its operating system, Windows
Server - Hyper-V Server 2012 and 2012 R2.

Hyper-V Server is a Core system version, without graphical
interface (GUI). This makes it faster and run happily with fewer resources,
leaving the computing power and storage space for virtual machines.

On the hypervisor (the control unit of Hyper-V) we could run
virtual machines which we can secure by creating backup copies. Ways to achieve
this objective are few.

With a free operating system, we can also use the free
applications, though they do not have very powerful capabilities, they does
meet the basic tasks to secure a copy of machine in the event of failure or the
need to restore its state.

Wbadmin

Microsoft Hyper -V Server 2012 and the whole family of
Windows Server (since 2008) as well as Windows Vista, 7 , 8 and 8.1 have
wbadmin tool wmbedded, run from the command line.

Wbadmin allows you to backup and restore your system from
both the local disk and network share.

It is a simple and effective method for managing safety
copies .

Its drawbacks are the lack of transparency and flexibility .
The advantages are simple syntax and choice of items that you want to move to a
backup.

Wbadmin can also use powershell scripts or run it in a
scheduled timetable .

·Summation

Wbadmin we get together with hyper-v . One of its advantages
is possibility to create a backup of both the hypervisor and virtual machines
that are running on it .

The main disadvantage is stopping the virtual machine (as
Saved ) on the duration of the backup , which often disqualifies this solution
. It can be used for machines that do not require continuous operation , such
as file servers , or others that during the backup window does need to function
in production .

Another tools that I will present , already have GUI. There
are free versions of commercial solutions , with limited possibilities .

Each of them can be easily changed to full product by
purchasing a license key .

Veeam
Backup

Veeam Backup has a clear interface and is available with a
separate console for Microsoft Exchange mail servers .

The full version of the product has gained good opinion in
the IT administrators world.

The free version is very stripped down .

·How many
virtual machines includes a free license?

No restrictions - both a free version and a commercial

·Installation

Veeam Backup is installed on your computer / server where it acts as manager.

At the beginning the cold shower : the program does not work
(yet ) with Windows Hyper- V Server 2012R2 and Windows8.

When you start dealing with the program you can see interface
similar to Microsoft Office.

You can add VMWare vSphere and Hyper –V servers to console .
To make it possible to connect to the remote hypervisors , RPC traffic must be
open.

When you first connect , the client is forced to install
Veeam transport agent on the host.

Once we have access to virtual machines , we can carry
out their backup .

Planning for backup

The free version is only available with a single backup
option . It is not possible to use the schedule. The scheduler mode is available for
copying files from the hypervisor , but does not give us a full ,
consistent backup for virtual machines.

Accordingly, the functionality of the program falls to
marginal use in emergency situations.

Backup is made via the VeeamZip and saved to the
location as the .zip archive.

Supported storage media

All available for Windows system where Veeam Backup is installed .

Additional functionality

In the free version ,you will get following extras :

- Veeam Explorer console for Exchange,

- Veeam Backup console for Sharepoint,

- Native support for tape libraries.

Exchange console can theoretically be used only on the local
Exchange server. In practice however, after copying database files, log
files and Ese.dll library you will be able to browse mailboxes and their contents
- even the content of e-mails !

You can also export the mailbox to .pst file and search the
database to record the occurrence of the selected criteria.

All this functionality for free, in a nice graphical design.

This tool is and will be useful for Exchange administrators.

Summation

Veeam Backup does not offer much for backing up virtual machines in the free version.
Accurate documentation available on the network and from the
program however shows that he has great potential - if we decide to purchase
a license .

Altaro Hyper -V Backup

Another backup system which is available in addition to
the commercial version also for free with truncated functions.

At the beginning I must praise the excellent documentation
available directly from the program help. It describes every possible function
in an easy fashion.

It's one of the best systems help I have seen.

Installation

Altaro backup needs to be installed directly on the hypervisor by copying and running the installer. System can operate from the hypervisor
using a graphical interface. It is also possible to install a remote
management console if your operating system is in 64-bit version.

Licensing the free version

The free version allows you to use Altaro Backup on two
virtual machines.

Planning for backup

Backup can be performed using the task scheduler. This is a big advantage of the free system. This allows us to use it in a production environment.

Interesting is the possibility of checking of all scheduled tasks in the calendar.

Supported media

• internal drives of hypervisor

• External USB Drives and eSATA

• network folder and the NAS accessed through the UNC path

• RDX cartridges.

Additional functionality

We have the ability to perform an incremental backup. In
combination with the possibility of scheduling tasks, get backup system with basic functionality for free. (if you do not need to handle more than 2 virtual machines - see
licensing ) !

Unitrends Enterprise Backup

It's something else entirely. Yes, it is an application to
backup virtual machines. However, the Unitrendscompany approached quite
differently to the topic. The application is actually a virtual machine with Linux installed. As a result, it does not have
the limitations of Windows , and allows you to backup almost any operating
system, including the fact that ... backuping machines does not have to be a virtual machine. I
was able to make a copy of my physical computer.

Licensing

The free version allows you to backup the eight clients (hosts).

All of the features of the application is not blocked in any manner.

Installation

In accordance with another backup system architecture
presented here the installation looks different too.

On the hypervisor for which the installation file has been copied to, after running it additional virtual machine called Unitrends Enterprise Backupwill be installed. It is satisfied with 512MB of memory ( but better allocate it 1024MB).

After logging in to the machine and setting network
connections, application is maintained via web browser .

This allows us to handle it from anywhere , which is very
convenient - you do not need to have access to a computer with the installed
application, differently from the rest of the previously presented programs.

In addition, you must install the client software on any
supported host.

This should be done from the machines, which we will
manage. Given that the free version can only do it on eight hosts, it is not
too labor intensive.

For Windows three agents are available - 32 bit, 64 bit and BareMetal,
so that we can recover a functional operating system, not just the files.

Another plus for Unitrends - support for all known
operating systems. In addition to Windows and various Linux distributions, is
MacOS, Novell, HP-UX, Solaris, and many others.

I personally tested the Windows and Linux clients. For Linux you had to do some tricks if you have 64bit version of the OS,because there are only 32-bit version of
the Linux client is available. Finally, however, I succeeded after installing the 32-bit
libraries .

Planning for backup

There is available an advanced backup schedule, along with a
choice of several pre-configured profiles .

We plan to backup through operations on the calendar - add
an option to copy full, incremental or which is unique in the free system -
also differential backup.

Additional functionality

Exchange server backup for free! We have the ability to backup
the virtual machine with the Exchange server and recover the database and
files. We can recover the database directly on the Exchange server, to recovery database or recover to a designated location.

We do not have such functionality as Veeam Backup - to browse e-mails, but thanks to databases backup we can protect Exchange
servers without additional costs

2. Works with the latest Hyper -V Server 2012 R2

3. Bare Metal Recovery - the ability to backup and recover
the operating system from scratch, i.e. image restoration from the time of
the backup to a formatted disk. Requires the installation of an additional
agent on the client called Bare Metal

Summation

Unitrends Enterprise Backup is the most advanced of the
presented backups applications. It allows to make a full backup and recover not only
files, but also the operating system of both the virtual machine and the
physical computer . A big plus is possibility to backup machines with
non-Windows operating systems. User friendliness and interface transparency is in my
opinion worse than in Altaro Backup, but the functionality of the free version
is the highest.

Which one I should choose ?

If you have only two virtual machines to
back up, I recommend selection of Altaro Backup , which does not cause any
trouble to install and configure, has extensive documentation and high-speed
operation , and you can schedule the backup .

When your environment requires more handling equipment
including physical hosts I will choose Unitrends Backup.

But when your job is to manage the backup for more
machines, consider purchasing a license, maybe one of the presented applications. You
can of course use wbadmin without restriction , but the functionality of the
system commands is limited.

For all Exchange administrators I recommend Veeam Backup
console program .

Saturday, 1 February 2014

The problem

When you change password which is used by HP Insight Manager services, then you suddenly cannot access management page.Then you see application window like below or similar, but web browser management windows not appears anymore.